Christmas Entertaining

My November issue of House Beautiful was all about entertaining for the holidays.  I read all the interviews and was most impressed with a man named Alex Hitz.  

This is him on the cover of his new cookbook.

Here is an excerpt from the interview I liked so much.

If you had to choose just one tip for giving a great party, what would it be?

Give guests what they really want: comfort food.  Nothing pretentious, trendy, or precious.  I hate  nouvelle cuisine.  I know that's not what it's called anymore, but that's what it is.  All that experimental cooking, all those foams and dusts.  Going to a restaurant and hearing about a dish that has 411 ingredients just wears me out.  I don't want anything fussy. Anything worth doing is worth doing well, but fussing isn't going to make anything better.  Like most things in life, simple is best.  You'll never go wrong with mac-and-cheese.

So now we know we should serve comfort food at parties.  What else should a host know?

Make a schedule; stick to it.  Do everything ahead of time-do not leave anything till the last minute.  Parties are about people, not about bustling around in the kitchen when they come.  Don't punish the guests who've arrived on time by waiting for the ones who didn't.  And never stop smiling, no matter what falls apart.  There's a great quote from Horace: 'A host is like a general; calamities often reveal his genius'  What you can be guaranteed of is that some sort of calamity will happen.  The only time a party will be ruined is if you stop smiling.  

This is a lesson I needed to hear.  I have definitely witnessed the truth of what he is saying, but needed to be told it's not acceptable to actually change my practices.  I will have a opportunity to prove myself next week.  I will keep you informed on how it goes.